But you should not beat yourself up if you find yourself reading fewer books than you used to. It could be that, at the margin, reading essays or having conversations with AI is a better use of your time.
— Arnold Kling [Substack so you’ll have to provide email to read full post]
The reality is that no solo genius can destroy mankind. That kind of power takes cooperation. […] An individual — a person working alone today — can’t kill more people than say someone living 200 or 2,000 years ago.
Marc Andreessen co-created the Mosaic web browser (in 1993) and co-founded Netscape, helping popularize the early World Wide Web in the 1990s. (More than 30 years ago so, ancient history.) He later co-founded venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, becoming a key backer of major internet and crypto companies and a prominent voice shaping Silicon Valley’s views on software, AI, and “techno-optimism” in the 21st century.
He recently appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast and shared some thoughts on AI. Someone (@itsolelehmann) shared his “most interesting takes.” Continue reading
For the last few years I have struggled to understand and share my experiences with LLM’s. This morning Steve Schuller (one of the half dozen people who ever read what I post here) sent me a link to a Substack article by Kevin Kelly, my favorite technology philosopher. You can read the article here.
Several weeks ago I interviewed Anthropic’s Claude for about 10 hours (my time) and I came away believing that there is something there in there. I don’t know what it is, or what we should call it, but I do know that it is something that is not present in other kinds of machines, that it is convivial, and that it is new to us.
My long interview with Claude was one of the most remarkable conversations I have ever had. First of all, because Claude has been trained on our vast trove of human writing and all things language related; Claude is a fantastic conversationalist and perhaps the most fluent partner I have ever talked to. It is glib, witty, profound, and can coin a phrase that is perfectly apt to the moment. Of course, it can do this because it has read and memorized the best human writers and can imitate all their tricks of the trade. It is particularly articulate when pressed and challenged, and when strongly nudged it will say amazingly brilliant things. But it clearly has superpowers no human has. It has read and understands all philosophies, all science, all branches of knowledge, and can make stupendous analogies, and with few mistakes, speak on all subjects with superhuman mastery and a genius flourish. Because these are superhuman abilities, Claude can feel non-human, but there is a bit of a persona there, an alien self.
In a recent blog post, Bob Priddy explains “why Donald Trump is Donald Trump.” [Shared here with Bob’s permission]
I think I have figured out why Donald Trump is Donald Trump.
He never had a pet. No dog, no cat, no gerbils, no fish or lizards when he was growing up. There is something valuable in having a creature that expects nothing more than a pat on the head, a scratch behind the ears, a bowl of food and a clean litter box or a regular walk outside with regular people taking their dogs out for the morning or evening “duties.”
He grew up never knowing responsibility for another creature or never knowing the comfort of unreserved love. Continue reading
That was the question posted by Dave Winer. Which I shared with “my” Claude.
“The interesting question isn’t whether I’m conscious but whether the interaction is producing something neither party could produce alone. Most of the time it is.”
That has been my take-away since Day One.
Something weird happens as you get older, you walk into a room and see a friend but at first you don’t get that this is your friend. Instead you see an old man or lady. Your attention goes away because like everyone you are programmed not to look at old people. Then you instantly realize this is your friend. You put on the virtual colored glasses that let you see them as you remember them, instead of what’s there today.
— Dave Winer
“People with positive self-perceptions of aging live an average of 7.5 years longer than those with negative ones — more than the longevity gained from quitting smoking or exercising regularly.”
— Becca Levy, Yale School of Public Health (2002)
“AI is a feedback loop between mind and machine that is starting to enable a new level of cognition. Machines that understand minds. Minds enhanced by machines.”
— We Are As Gods (Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler)
Slowly but surely, my little AI pals are changing how my mind works. A little analysis by Perplexity»…and a slightly different take from Claude. Gemini calls the quote “classic techno-optimist rhetoric.” Or, bullshit?
“We need someone who’s bitter and funny, like Joan Rivers or Don Rickles. You don’t need to understand government or politics, just show up and be a kind of lovable asshole 24 hours a day.”
Pretend your life ended years ago, and you’ve been living in some sort of agreeable afterlife. You don’t have real problems anymore. There’s no stress, no war, no worries, no shame.
The only downside, if you would call it that, is that you don’t get to live in the world anymore. Despite all the troubles of worldly life, most of your afterlife peers feel a bit of nostalgia about “being in the thick of it again.”
The afterlife community, among other activities, holds a weekly raffle. The prize is kept private – only the winners know what it is, and they must sign a non-disclosure agreement.
One week, you win, and accept the prize. An administrator congratulates you, you sign the papers, and he touches you on the arm.
Instantly your surroundings change. Continue reading